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Pep Guardiola
Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛb ɡwəɾðiˈɔɫə]; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football coach and former player who is the current manager of Manchester City. Regarded as one of the best players of his generation,[3] Guardiola was a creative and technically gifted midfielder who usually played in a deep-lying playmaking role as a defensive midfielder.[4][5][6][7] He spent the majority of his career with Barcelona, forming a part of Johan Cruyff's "Dream Team" that won the club's first European Cup in 1992, and four successive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994. He later captained the team from 1997 to 2001. He then played for Brescia and Roma in Italy, Al-Ahli in Qatar, and Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico while training to be a manager. While playing in Italy, he served a four-month ban for a positive drug test, although he was eventually cleared of wrongdoing twice on appeal in 2009 before the Courts of Justice of the Italian Football Federation and the Federal Anti-Doping Courts of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).[8] Guardiola was capped 47 times for Spain and appeared at the 1994 FIFA World Cup as well as UEFA Euro 2000. He also played friendly matches for Catalonia. After retiring as a player, Guardiola became coach of Barcelona B, and in 2008 he succeeded Frank Rijkaard as the first-team manager.[9] In his first season as manager, Guardiola guided Barcelona to a treble, winning La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League. In doing so, Guardiola became the youngest manager to win the Champions League. The following season, Guardiola led Barcelona to win the Supercopa de España, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and a second La Liga title. In 2011, after leading Barcelona to another La Liga, Supercopa de España and UEFA Champions League, Guardiola was awarded the Catalan Parliament's Gold Medal, their highest honour.[10] That same year, Guardiola was also named the FIFA World Coach of the Year.[11] In Guardiola's fourth season, he won the Copa del Rey, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup and the Supercopa de España. On 30 June 2012, Guardiola announced his departure from Barcelona. After a sabbatical period, Bayern Munich announced on 16 January 2013 that Guardiola would join the club as manager for the 2013–14 season following the retirement of Jupp Heynckes. In his first season at the club, Guardiola won the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. He won seven trophies during his tenure at Bayern, winning the Bundesliga all three seasons he was there, including two domestic doubles. He left Bayern for Manchester City in July 2016 and guided them to the English league title in his second season as manager, breaking numerous domestic records and became the first Premier League team to attain 100 points. As a manager, Guardiola has won 24 trophies since the start of his managing career,[12] making him one of the most successful managers in world football. Guardiola also holds the record for the most consecutive league wins in La Liga, Bundesliga and the Premier League.[nb 1][13] He is considered by a number of players, coaches, and commentators to be one of the best managers in the world.[14][15][16] Category:Managers Category:Spanish managers Category:FC Barcelona managers Category:Manchester City F.C. managers Category:FIFA 14 managers Category:FIFA 15 managers Category:FIFA 16 managers Category:FIFA 17 managers Category:FIFA 18 managers